You’re probably aware that I use Twitter. In fact, I’m a bit of an evangelist for it. I think it’s up there with Email and RSS as one of the few absolutely killer online appliances – and pretty much a must for musicians and independent music businesses these days.
And yet, it’s been getting some bad press. There are people who say it’s all narcissists and psychopaths. Others who claim it’s just a hiding ground for celebrity junkies.
Steve Lawson, one of my top must-read music business thinkers, wrote a blog post today that explains Twitter in the face of some terrible journalism. I caught up with him for lunch in London and we had a chat about it.
Quite predictably, I made a video. That’s it up there.
Steve’s post is called Twitter sucks, so change your friends. For more on Twitter for musicians, read Ariel Hyatt’s Music Think Tank post and Steve’s Top Twitter Tips for Musicians
You can follow Steve on Twitter: @solobasssteve
And, if you like, follow me on Twitter: @dubber
Feel free to leave your own Twitter user name in the comments. It’d be great to have a scan through, locate and connect with some NMS readers using the platform…
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[...] playing field of professional music. The article that initially caught my interest was an interview with Steve Lawson about the commercial value of Twitter for musicians. I have a Twitter profile, and I admit I [...]
[...] To conclude heres An inspirational video from a few months back: Steve Lawson interviewed by Andrew Dubber [...]
[...] Dubber (??? ?? ???? ??? ????? ??????? ????? ????????) ???? ??????? ??? ???? ????????? ??????? ?? ???????? ??????? Steve Lawson ????? (?????? ??? [...]
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Almost three years ago, when I first started my research on using blogs in teaching, I was very surprised to find that while writing on their blogs in class, the students often chatted quietly about their work. They were short exchanges, mostly about s…
23 Comments
I’ve been using Twitter to promote my band The Soviets, and our record label Reckless General Records.
Although I could be a lot more proactive with it, simply having a presence and replying to/RT’ing some of the better-known music Tweeps has given us an exposure that was 100% worth the effort.
I will certainly be looking into using Twitter and other fledgling services to promote RGR, and I would completely recommend that anyone does the same.
Follow us at @RecklessGeneral
I think it’s like most things online in that it’s all how you use it. If twitter was a purely “status update” kind of thing I don’t think I would use it. The fact that twitter is so functional is it’s charm, especially twitter used in conjunction with ping.fm.
One example of how I use twitter is as follows: as Programme Director for a volunteer based radio station ( RDU 98.5 FM ) I’m often having to find show hosts at the last minute, so I’ll throw it out on twitter and through other services via ping.fm and I’ll have a response in minutes as opposed to ringing around a volunteer base of 50+ looking for someone who is free which can take hours.
Follow me here @starliftertv
I recently told my network that now is a time for a Finnish artist to bring forth his/hers persona and use it to create audience for music. I agree with Steve and his advices are good.
follow me here @laurila
@bluevibestudio
When most people look at what twitter can do, check out some profiles, read a few tweets, you really miss the point. For me it’s all about the simplicity and the interaction.
I use it for quite a few different reasons and use tweetdeck to keep it all amazingly simple.
I’ve had some great conversations with people from all over the world on topics I’m passionate about.
Discovered great music from some of my favourite artists and artists I’ve never heard of.
There’s a few too many one note marketers and porn sites jumping on board but it’s an amazing tool and keeps getting more useful by the day.
best guide to twitter use for musicians I’ve seen, nice one!
@radarmusicvideo
I find twitter quite hard do get started. I had to read many tutorials. This video helps.
But the learning curve is making think that twitter won’t take off as well as it should in france. Mainly because of the new version of Facebook which is less rich but easier than twitter.
If I invite someone on twitter, he’s not gonna see the richness behing it and will tell me that it’s a facebook spin off.
And for now there aren’t so many french musicians in twitter. It’s mainly a webdesigners audience.
I hope i’m wrong …
@LameSpirale
Been on Twitter for a couple of months and still finding my way around it. Thanks for this post and video. Very much food for thought. C.
Excellent interview! Thanks Dubber, thanks Steve! Do read Steve’s other posts about Twitter… they were very much an “ah-ah” experience for me. Before I couldn’t really wrap my head around twitter, largely ’cause I was following way too many people and the conversation turned to noise.
Follow me @jimofferman
I love the fact that even as a small unsigned act you can follow people in the “business” or make links in a way you could never, ever before.
Atul
I am @atulrana
My band is @donkeybox
Excellent interview and insights. Very sound advice and realistic expectations.
Thank you.
Conor
Thanks for the advice.
We created a Twitter account for our business (an online and email newsletter publisher that discovers new music artists worldwide) and will start using it in a few days. I guess it’ll take a bit of time to get used to it and find our way around it, so do let us know your thoughts about our posts.
Thanks,
Santiago
NewBandDaily.com
Twitter is LAME. Nobody cares what you ate for breakfast and nobody cares that your waiting in line at the grocery store. Its for self-obsessed narcissist and other losers who cant put together a complete thought.
Twitter has allowed us as a band to get involved with people who see value in music but aren’t necessarily involved in the ‘music business’.
One thing that came about entirely because of Twitter is a contest to remix one of our songs at http://www.mixable.co.uk – we met the teachers first on Twitter, then were invited to play at the Bett show at Olympia, then launched the contest and got the team from Songsmith / Microsoft to sponsor the contest, and then got others to spread the word – ALL from Twitter. And that is just ONE good thing that has happened from using Twitter in the last few months.
The whole thing kind of happened and as people saw us trying to put it together they offered their help. Cool stuff that would never have happened so quickly pre-Twitter, if at all. The power is in the fact that if you describe what you’re trying to achieve as you go, others can join in with their input, expertise and contacts when they see something that touches an area they might be working in. It’s what LinkedIn WISHES it could be.
We have a gig on Thursday in London and the majority of people coming are people we have got to know on Twitter over the last few months. Some we have met in person at Twestival, and others are now becoming friends with a common attitude of wanting to do stuff, figure stuff out, and have fun. It’s all about the social for us.
Facebook is about people you know. Twitter is about people you have yet to meet.
@georgiawonder
I don’t want to replicate the comments above, but the video was really good to get things straight. Steve clearly formulates two important things which I have been thinking about to explain why musicians should be on Twitter:
- The daily life of musicians is without doubt interesting enough to follow
- Twitter can create a narrative, a context that prepares some major event, such as an album release
In case you didn’t now already, I’m @colorlessgreen on Twitter and I tweet about my musical activities, my music start-up (the visible part for the moment is mainly the blog http://mmmotion.wordpress.com) and… the rest of my life. In the Twittersphere I mainly interact with people talking about music and technology internationally and with the techy community in my home country Belgium.
Earlier I commented on this blog about the bilingual problem. I tweet and blog both in Dutch (my native tongue) and in English. If you only want to follow the English parts, you can subscribe to the English RSS of my blog. I think I just found a way (ten minutes ago) to split my English and Dutch tweets, but first i’ll have to try it out. I’ll inform you later.
I have been on twitter for about two months now. Made my mistakes. Posting less these days and ironically have more people following me. Do have some actual friends there.
Reading Steve’s tips for musicians has made me realize I need to interact more.
@guitpatrick is my twitter id.
Hey Dubber
I now swear by Twitter. I had a group of ‘now’ Swiss friends, who picked up my album in a CD store. Went to my website, followed be on twitter, and then they, along with a group of other Twitter friends turned up to my gig.
We ended up having a few beers, they bought 15 CD’s and sent the to Switzerland, and are now regulars at my gigs!
Brilliant. Thanks again for providing great posts. @daveando (twitter id)
Twitter is ridiculous, dangerous, valuable, and howlingly funny all in one. This video is perfect: http://is.gd/nCvV
I use it every day and have no friends either, lol
I believe Twitter can be a good thing but it also can be overused.
I agree with the strength of it but I also have a view toward those that take it a little far at http://ping.fm/E8lX5
Just started using it the other day…
Still not sure why!!! haha…
Check me out on twitter here: @wavewhore
Or listen to my music here: http://www.myspace.com/wavewhore
I rather love using Twitter, regardless of how others may think of me.
Check me out here: @Dawmusic
I’m a 72-year-old jazz vocalist re-launching a singing career on a more int-ernational basis and find Twitter very helpful and supportive. The most response I’ve ever had from small amounts of social networking in the past few months and before have been on Twitter. If you’re curious, follow me at http://www.twitter/ellifordyce or email me at ellifordyce@msn.com and I’ll send you some examples. Or check out this page (which application I found on Twitter) and find them yourself: Latest news and archives: http://ellifordyce.extendr.com.
I look forward to hearing from you (especially if you’re a jazz-vocal fan).
Best,
Elli
What a superb interview, thank you for this. I’ve been using Twitter for quite a while now and only recently, with some help from Ariel Hyatt, have I got to grips with it. Even so, there are some points that Steve makes here which I think ALL musicians who use, or are thinking of using, Twitter should listen to (or read on his blog). The idea of tweeting in a context (cd recording or composing for new recording) is far better than just saying “here is my cd”. Also, we as musicians don’t always think our lives are particularly interesting but again, as Steve points out, they are when in the context of something. There are some great ideas here and I shall watch it another couple of times to pick them all up!
@nikpayton
Interestingly Jack “@jack” Dorsey (the guy behind the Twitter idea and part of the Twitter triumvirate, although an ever diminishing profile in favour of @ev and @biz) still uses Twitter as it was originally envisioned in 2006, i.e., status updates rather than conversational. This means that on the whole they are pretty dull and is likely to do Twitter a disservice if his account is a default suggested one for new users.
Nice chat gents.